Safety horse-detacher.



No. 740,111; PATENTED SEPT. 29, 1903.

F. H. ELLIS. SAFETY HORSE DETAGHER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10, 1902.

NO MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented. September 29, 1903.

FRANKHLELLIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

"SIA'FEITY HORSE-DETACHER- srEoIFzcATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 740,11 1, dated September 29, 1903.

Application filed May 10, 1902. Serial No. 106,685. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK H. ELLIS, of Ohicago, in'the county of Cook and State of Illierence being had to the accompanying drawings, and-to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in safety horse-detachers designed to aiford means for readily releasing a horse from a vehicle in case of an accident, such as where a horse falls down while attached to the vehicle or in case of a runaway.,

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. y

In the drawings, Figure lis a plan view of a pair of buggy-shafts and whiffletreashowing my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2'is a rear view of the device. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4: is a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fi 4 with the parts in changed position. Fig. 6 is a view showing my invention as forming a part of the connections between an evener and the whiffletree.

As shown in said drawings, AA designate a pair of thills connected by the usual crossbarA, and B designates a whiffietree of'ordinary form pivoted to the cross-bar by a whiffletree bolt b.

O O designate my improved safety-detachers connected one with each end of the whiflletree.

The devices at both ends of the whiffletree are alike in their construction, and in the folto have interfitting connection with said plunger D. As herein shown, the head is attached to the whiflietree by means of a shank E, which is made integral therewith. Said shank is provided at its end remote from the head with an axial socket e, within which the end of the whiflietree fits. The end of said whiffletree is desirably reduced, as shown, to an extent equal .to the thickness of the walls of the shank, so as to. form a flush joint between said shank and whiffletree. Said shank .E is provided adjacent to the head with an axial recess E, within which is located the plunger D. E designates a spiral spring which is located within an enlarged part of said recess and surrounds said plunger and bears at one end against an interior shoulder e in said recess and at its other end against outer end with a socket 6 which is made of such size as to receive the reduced end of the arm 0 of the pivot-block C Said plunger fits closely in the bearing-apertures in the head and shank through which it passes, thereby preventing lateral movement thereof. It is obvious thata reversal of such interfitting connections will produce the same resultsthat is to say, the arm may have a recess in the end thereof to receive the plunger D.

F designates a pin which passes through a slot 6 in the rear wall of the shank which in- }tersects the recess E and which pin is connected at its other end with the plunger D and is provided at itsouter end with a loop or eye e G G designate cords or straps each of which are attachedat one end thereof to the eye of one of said pins F and which cords engage between theirends rings g or other suitable guiding means located near the center of the whiffletree. In rear of said whiflie-' tree said cords G are joined to a single cord G, the other end of which is contained within the vehicle-body and within reach of the person seated in the vehicle.

H H designate the harness-traces which are adapted to fit at theirrear ends over the attaching-arms O of the pivot-block and by means of which they are secured to'said de tacliers.

The operation of the device is as follows:

As herein ICO \ the attachingarms 0.

The traces when the horse is hitched to the vehicle are engaged with the attaching-arms C of the pivot-block, and by reason of the interfitting connections between said arms and the plungers D and the fact that said plungers are held from lateral movement in their hearings in the head said arms are held rigidly in the positions shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and while in such positions the traces cannot be detached from the whiflietree. In case of an accidentas, for instance, it the horse should accidentally fall or if it be desired for any other reason to detach the horse from the vehiclethe driver will grasp the cord G and pull it rearwardly, which will act to simultaneously retract both plungers D and move the same out of engagement with At this time said blocks 0 will be free to turn or rotate on their pivots, and a forward pull on the traces I and a whifliletree, as well as in the location shown in the figures just described, and I have shown in Fig. 6 the said detacher so applied to an evener and whitiletree. The device is made the same as shown in the previous figures and may be attached to the evener in the same manner, and the parts are therefore designated by like referenceletters. In this case the whiflietree I is provided with the usual trace hooks or lugs and is provided centrally thereof with a clip I, to which is connected by a swivel-joint a ring or loop 1 which is adapted to pass between the arms 0 of the head and engage the attaching-arm C. A cord G is attached to the pin F and will pass through a guide pulley or loop near the center of the evener in a manner similar to the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 and be continued to the vehiclebody within easy access. of the person seated therein. The operation of this device will of course be in all essential respects .like that before described, it being understood that the whiffletree will be released instead of the traces.

Instead of the shank E being used as the means for attaching the device to the whifiietree or evener, as the case may be, other means may be employed by which the same may be rigidly attached to said evener or whiflietree, and I do not wish to be restricted to the construction herein shown. Said shank, however, is a convenient means of fixing the device to the swingletree or evener, for the reason that it affords a socket contained within the same for the plunger D and without the necessity of greatly increasing the length thereof. Obviously the same results would be produced if the head were made integral with the whifliletree or evener with which it is used.

I claim as my invention 1. A safetyhorse-detacher comprising a head, vertically-separated arms thereon ,forming between the same a recess which is open at both its front and rear, a rotative blockin said recess journaled in said arms, an attaching-arm projecting inwardly from the block, and a spring-pressed plunger in alinement with said attaching arm which has interfitting engagement atits two ends with the arms.

2. A safety horse-detacher comprising a head, separated arms thereon, a rotative blockbetween said arms and jou rnaled therein, an attaching arm projecting inwardly from said block, a shank connected with said head and provided with an axial recess in alinement with said attaching-arm, a springpressed plunger in said recess, which has interfitting engagement end to end with said attaching-arm, the inner end of said recess being reduced to provide a guide-bearing for the plunger, and the inner end of the shank being provided with an axial socket adapted to receive the part to which the detacher' is attached.

' 3. The combination with an evener and a whifiietree, of means-for detachably connecting the samecomprising a head connected with the evener, vertically-separated arms thereon, a rotative block between said arms,

an attaching-arm projecting inwardly from said block, a spring-pressed plnngeren gagin g said attaching-arm end to end and having interfitting connections therewith, a clip on the whiflletree and a loop which is connected with the whifiletree and fits over said attachingarm.

4. A safety detacher comprising a head,

vertically-separated arms thereon formingbetween the same a recess which is open both at its front and rear, 9. rotative block in said recess journaled in said arm, an attaching-arm projecting inwardly from the block, and a spring-pressed plungerin alinement with said attaching-arm which has interfitting engagement end to end with said arm, and a laterally-directed pin on the plunger adapted for attachment thereto of a cord or cable.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature,in presence of two witnesses, this 8th day of May, A. D.

FRANK H. ELLIS. Witnesses:

TAYLOR E. BROWN, GER'IRUDE BRYCE. 

